Update: Hundreds to stand against far-right march planned on 80th anniversary of Kristallnacht

The march by nationalist group Wir für Deutschland (WfD) – We are for Germany – was banned by the Berlin state earlier this week. But the group appealed the ban successfully and on Friday, the organizer posted on the WfD Facebook page to say that the march would go ahead. Anti-fascist groups are urging people to join their counter-protest on Friday evening. The WfD group, which says it stands up for German culture and identity, wants to host a “march of sorrow for the victims of politics” through the centre of Berlin. An organizer told The Local it was being held for people who died while trying to cross the Berlin Wall. But opponents said the demonstration was a “provocation” and inappropriate at a time of remembrance for Jewish people. A spokesman from Berlin gegen Nazis, (Berlin against Nazis) a project that works against right-wing extremism and racism, told The Local: “The broad counter-protest by different initiatives and groups is being held to stand against this right-wing extremist group. “It’s a deliberate provocation that they want to march on November 9th, the 80th anniversary of the pogrom night. On this day we remember Jewish victims of the Holocaust.” On November 9th 1938, Nazi thugs launched brutal attacks on Jewish people across Germany, in what became known as ‘Kristallnacht’ or the ‘Night of Broken Glass’. During the night, Jews were murdered, displaced and detained, shops under Jewish ownership were looted and destroyed, while synagogues were burnt down in arson attacks. The… [Read full story]